Although Jintong didn't know the price of goods in this dynasty, she couldn't stand the fact that she had so many people under her command, and more than half of them were powerful people!
The mission was dispatched in the morning. After dinner, Wu An answered the question on his feet.
Then Jintong was shocked!
She didn't trust 600,000 taels of silver, but it actually cost 200,000 taels to hire people to do labor, which was unnecessary. Jintong had already planned the approximately 30,000 labor costs to rebuild West Street.
, there is a good strategy to use a large number of free labor!
Besides, the production cycle of firing bricks in ancient times actually took one year! This is too time-consuming!
Rebuilding West Street requires about six million bricks, three million tiles, tens of thousands of timbers, sand and gravel rammed into the ground, etc. With these materials alone, and according to this production schedule, how long will it take to wait until the Year of the Monkey?
It's impossible to wait for a year. By then, all the old, weak, women and children on West Street will probably be burping!
Thanks to Wu An's cleverness, he followed the advice of Mr. Gongsun, the retired military advisor in the mansion, and went to the Ministry of Industry and Household Affairs to inquire. He learned that a lot of materials were stored in the brick kiln in the northern suburbs. If there were enough manpower, it would not take much to make a batch of ordinary bricks.
After a lot of time, I also found out that Prince Su was planning to rebuild a garden in the southern suburbs. All kinds of materials were ready. If part of it could be given away first, it would also reduce the burden.
Princess Su's younger brother Chu Xi and Zheng Qishuo had a long history of contact, so Jintong planned that Prince Su could ask Zheng Qishuo to say hello first.
Then she talked to Chu Wan, Princess Su, and asked her to give her some advice and ask Prince Su's Mansion to donate some common bricks and tiles. In this way, as long as the ground on West Street was compacted, construction of a house could begin immediately.
During this period of time, Jintong and Chu Wan were closest to each other. Probably after seeing Jintong's cool appearance in disguise as a man, Chu Wan stopped being shy in front of Jintong. The two hit it off, they had the same odor, and the more they came into contact, the more they became attracted to each other.
Speculation. Jintong speculated that she would personally talk to Chu Wan about the donation, and Chu Wan agreed 90% of the time.
Ever since Empress Jiang came to the Middle Palace, whenever there was any natural or man-made disaster, Mrs. Jiang would take the initiative to call on ladies from the capital to raise donations, and this time was no exception.
In the palace, Queen Jiang and a group of concubines took the initiative to cut down their daily expenses and use the saved money for disaster relief to relieve the king's worries. Mrs. Jiang took the initiative to come to Jintong to discuss disaster relief matters.
Jintong got what she wanted, so she held Mrs. Jiang's hand and said, "Sister Jiang, I have a few words that I want to say to you alone."
Mrs. Jiang waved her hand, and her two personal maids immediately followed Su Bai and Ning Zi out. "Sister, if you have anything, it's okay to say it."
Jintong said with an expression of "I trust you the most and I trust you with all my heart": "Sister, do you know that my third brother, who is my direct relative, is responsible for the reconstruction of West Street this time."
"It turned out to be the Marquis of Jingbei who personally presided over this matter." Mrs. Jiang was surprised. Although Jinzhu had the hereditary title of Marquis of Jingbei, he had no real power and had lived in the north for a long time. He was almost unknown in Shangjing.
Existence. When she heard that he actually came to Beijing and received such a thankless job, Mrs. Jiang was a little confused.
"Do you want to share your worries with me?" Jintong took out a drawing and said, "Sister, Weinan and Sichuan are far away from us. The imperial envoy has just passed by, and the specific situation is unknown. What my sister means is that we might as well take the initiative to
If the affairs on West Street are handled well, it can be considered as sharing the worries of the Holy Lord and Queen. Sister, please see, this is the drawing that my third brother asked the Ministry of Works to calculate and draw. If the entire West Street is rebuilt, it will cost 600,000 taels of silver.
"
"Only 600,000 taels?" Mrs. Jiang looked surprised. Last time the Yellow River burst its banks, the aristocratic families in Beijing donated a total of several million taels of silver. Even a drop of water was not visible. The entire West Street was rebuilt.
Six hundred thousand taels of silver is enough to build a few rows of straw huts and build a shabby house?
"My sister is coaxing her, right? Not to mention the materials needed for these nearly a thousand houses, where can I find so many craftsmen who know how to build houses at once?" Mrs. Jiang had some doubts in her heart. Could it be that the Marquis of Jingbei was trying to gain fame?
He spent his own money to fill the hole in West Street to pave the way for his official career.
Jintong had already discussed all aspects with Mr. Gongsun. She nodded her fingers and told Mrs. Jiang clearly every step of the calculation.
Mrs. Jiang sighed secretly when she heard this. It seemed that she had underestimated Jintong.
She recalled that when Jintong first married into Pingninghou's mansion, within a few days, there were rumors that Jintong was a complete idiot. Later, when Pingninghou was newly married, he took the initiative to pacify southern Xinjiang, and even sat there.
Jintong has a reputation as a "bastard". But now that they have been together several times, she is even more certain that Jintong is pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger!
Jintong didn't know and didn't bother to pay attention to what Mrs. Jiang was thinking. After calculating the accounts clearly, he pretended to ask Mrs. Jiang for her opinion: "Sister Jiang, rebuilding is not a troublesome thing. My sister is a little selfish and thought we might as well take the lead and take the credit."
It's a good thing to come down. Anyway, we just contributed the money, and my third brother and his subordinates did the hard work. But my sister and I are new here, so I don't know how to start, and I am powerless, so I can only ask my sister to help me plan.
"Yes." She knew in her heart that if such a big bait was thrown out, Mrs. Jiang's personality would definitely catch her.
Why didn't Mrs. Jiang understand what Jintong meant? She cleaned up the emperor's feet. At least the emperor wasn't bothered by it. Those places with high mountains and far away from the emperor should leave them aside for now! Since Jintong took the initiative, she must take the initiative.
Come and do it.
She also had her own selfish motives, so she suggested to Jintong sincerely: "Sister, it's only 600,000 taels of silver. We, the four kings and the thirteen princes, can accept it. You can relax as to how to prepare this money."
Xin, my sister is here to come forward, but if it doesn’t work, the queen is still there. As for the Sichuan side, the Holy Lord has sent an imperial envoy there. We will see how the specific situation is then, and we will discuss it again."
Jintong held Mrs. Jiang's hand with a look of joy on her face: "With Sister Jiang's words, my sister is relieved!"
The two chatted for a long time and planned everything in detail. Only then did Mrs. Jiang say goodbye to Jintong and go to work as a lobbyist for the prince's family with whom she had a good relationship.
Mrs. Jiang didn't sort out the matters at hand until the beginning of the year and came to the ancestral hall. When she saw Gu Xiangyun sitting and drinking tea with a dissatisfied look on her face, not copying a word of the family rules, she couldn't help but sigh secretly. It was a waste of so much effort to cultivate the daughter she had.
Being so short-sighted disappointed her so much.
Seeing Mrs. Jiang come in, Gu Xiangyun said angrily: "Mother, my daughter still said the same thing. She thinks she has done nothing wrong."
Mrs. Jiang: "So if you sneak out and show your face to a dirty place like West Street, what can you do to help?"
"Mother, although my daughter can't help much, she is still a strength. Even the students of the Imperial College..."
"That's enough!" Mrs. Jiang couldn't bear it and slammed the table hard, causing the tea cup to shatter on the ground: "Is it more important to seek fame or reputation? You are hopelessly stupid!"
"Mother, is your daughter so miserable in your mind?"
"Sister Yun, if you really pity the victims, how about you convert all your jewelry and clothing materials into cash and donate them to the victims?"
Gu Xiangyun looked at her mother in disbelief, how could this be possible?
"Can't bear to part with you?" Mrs. Jiang gave her a stern look: "You are banned from visiting the ancestral hall, and you have to copy the family rules a hundred times. If you still don't understand, just copy them until you understand!"
Mrs. Jiang waved her sleeves and left. She had put a lot of effort into cultivating this daughter. She was quite successful in music, chess, calligraphy and painting, but it was just a false reputation for being a talented girl, just the icing on the cake. Speaking of other things, oh, forget it! Angry!